looks like like remake of old clasic space race. And will game end at moon landing as original or it will be more in future ? moon/mars base ? and will be posible to play esa if later not only nasa/russia side ?

EleSigma -> RE: hehe (2/10/2013 4:17:45 AM)

From everything I've read and seen it will cover the entire history of space flight up and into the near future, ending with a Mars landing. Also a few of the screenshots show a "GSA" which I guess stands for "Global Space Agency" So no idea on how and if BARIS style space race is in though.

n01487477 -> RE: hehe (2/11/2013 12:29:05 AM)

They seem to be downplaying the competitive angle ala BARIS and the cold war space race. Now this might not be the case, but it will certainly be remiss to leave it out. They could have a number of competitive era's by: 1. Winning political will with domestic programs competition (sort of like Army-Navy-Air force Vs VonBraun) 2. USSR V US. 3. International competition for lift capability. 4. Move toward corporate lifters for payloads and space tourism etc. 5. The new "space race" with China Vs Russia Vs US

I don't know their design decisions but it seems that competition is the key to any successful game. GSA just sounds like a way to avoid all that and make a click percentage simulator. Similarly, having three games might sound fine, but make sure they link and can be integrated.

Because if it is just gaining recognition and hence more money from Congress by achieving mission goals, you might as well make this a lobby group simulator. Space is exciting, make it a journey of discovery and competition. Make it educational and uplifting. Bring the brightest young minds back to being interested in technology and engineering... Please, make it a game more of thinking and less of just aimless clicking.

When I saw this will be available on the i-pad, I wonder what we have in store... [8|] Make me a believer please (or a tester if possible).

Anyway, I'll be buying and hoping that the design team "choose to go to the moon... not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of [their] energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win..."

There are 3 stages of the game - the first stage is to the moon. Later stages will cover the International space station and then Mars. The moon stage will release this summer. There will be competition but not against other space agencies. The reason to merge all space agencies together was to offer more replay value and more options. You are not limited to one sides designs - you can build any mission from any nation and many that never flew. There is a huge amount of content here!

Blind Sniper -> RE: hehe (2/11/2013 1:38:18 PM)

Will all stages be connected to each other? I mean a big campaign.

seydlitz -> RE: hehe (2/12/2013 2:00:02 AM)

I hope that there will also be the option to do the historical moon race. It would add to the game. It was a core component of the original. Push push push or the other side gets there first.

Iain McNeil -> RE: hehe (2/12/2013 10:05:41 AM)

Yes the game will continue from Episode 1 to 2 and on to 3.

We wont be including the USSR/USA space race in the first game. We wanted to explore all the mission configurations for this game and might come back to the cold war space race later.

n01487477 -> RE: hehe (2/12/2013 12:07:31 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil Yes the game will continue from Episode 1 to 2 and on to 3.

We wont be including the USSR/USA space race in the first game. We wanted to explore all the mission configurations for this game and might come back to the cold war space race later.

Thank you for your efforts to keep us informed. This sounds like it might be a good game and I'm looking forward to what this team has come up with. I do hope "might" will turn into an extra game though. I'm sure many of us would enjoy that extra dimension after the initial effort is released. I think you can gauge that too by the forum posts both here and in the press release section.

There are 3 stages of the game - the first stage is to the moon. Later stages will cover the International space station and then Mars. The moon stage will release this summer. There will be competition but not against other space agencies. The reason to merge all space agencies together was to offer more replay value and more options. You are not limited to one sides designs - you can build any mission from any nation and many that never flew. There is a huge amount of content here!

Will be posible to mod game to recreate cold war space race ? IMO despite "limited" option it was fun as hell. True, here was not many ahistoricl vehicles, only a few, but great replaybality was not only given by plaing agaisn another space agency, but in many diferent posibilites how to land on moon (shistorical, 2 man capsule + bigger moon land probe, posibility to launch booth in one rocket or in two..etc). Will i try to go to historical or just try faster ahistorical landing ?

Nacho84 -> RE: hehe (2/19/2013 12:57:49 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: n01487477

Thank you for your efforts to keep us informed. This sounds like it might be a good game and I'm looking forward to what this team has come up with. I do hope "might" will turn into an extra game though. I'm sure many of us would enjoy that extra dimension after the initial effort is released. I think you can gauge that too by the forum posts both here and in the press release section.

Thank you for your kind words! I'm sure you'll love the game [:)]. As Iain said, we're considering the possibility of doing a "Race to the Moon" game at a later stage, but for the moment all our efforts are placed into the three parts that SPM will comprise.

quote:

ORIGINAL: czert2

Will be posible to mod game to recreate cold war space race ? IMO despite "limited" option it was fun as hell. True, here was not many ahistoricl vehicles, only a few, but great replaybality was not only given by plaing agaisn another space agency, but in many diferent posibilites how to land on moon (shistorical, 2 man capsule + bigger moon land probe, posibility to launch booth in one rocket or in two..etc). Will i try to go to historical or just try faster ahistorical landing ?

No, sorry about that, we're not planning to make the game moddable. That being said, SPM features the LOR, EOR and Direct Ascent (via a modified Gemini) approaches, so you'll be able to choose the way you want to get to the Moon and take a different route than the one taken by Project Apollo in the 1960s and 1970s.

EleSigma -> RE: hehe (2/20/2013 7:22:07 AM)

How will you prevent a player from constantly reloading a game and re-doing a launch over and over until they get a a successful mission? So we don't have moon landings in 1964-65. Which is possible in BARIS.

Blind Sniper -> RE: hehe (2/20/2013 10:54:34 AM)

Another question: is it a solo game? I mean no PBEM or so.

Nacho84 -> RE: hehe (2/20/2013 12:55:36 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: EleSigma

How will you prevent a player from constantly reloading a game and re-doing a launch over and over until they get a a successful mission? So we don't have moon landings in 1964-65. Which is possible in BARIS.

We issue a warning first, and if they don't comply we format their whole hard drive! [:'(]

Just kidding, here's the mechanism we use: when a new game is created, we generate a unique random seed for it. We then keep that seed as part of the save information along with a counter that indicates how many times the pseudo-ramdom number generator (PRNG) has been invoked. When a saved game gets loaded, we initialize the PRNG with the seed and invoke it "counter" times in order to take it to the same state it was when the game was saved. That way, we ensure you'll always get the same outcome every time, irrespective of how many times you attempt to reload the game.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Blind Sniper

Another question: is it a solo game? I mean no PBEM or so.

Yes, SPM is a solo game.

RLA -> RE: hehe (2/24/2013 2:46:15 PM)

Hello, I'm new, but full with curious questions about BASPM.

1. What means: "The moon stage will release this summer" ? Means this that the second and third stage of the game (ISS and Mars) become later in the game with a update, or means this that the second and third stage of the game are expansions where you need to pay it to have the stage(s)?

2. Is there also a plan to launch non-government satellites, and that if you doing a launch successful of them, that you earns also some funds from non-government parts?

3. How the basics of the game start (Meaning 1950-1955 era)? With building up from short-distance rockets to ICBM to orbital launcher?

4. Become there only American rockets / probes / manned spacecrafts in it, or become it a balanced mix of all big space agency's in one about that?

5. Maybe a bit off-the-box question, but if the manned mars mission comes in the later stage, then become it a return trip, or a one-way trip?

Nacho84 -> RE: hehe (2/24/2013 3:23:12 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: RLA Hello, I'm new, but full with curious questions about BASPM.

Hello, welcome to the forums! [:)]

quote:

ORIGINAL: RLA 1. What means: "The moon stage will release this summer" ? Means this that the second and third stage of the game (ISS and Mars) become later in the game with a update, or means this that the second and third stage of the game are expansions where you need to pay it to have the stage(s)?

Part 2 and 3 will be released as paid expansions.

quote:

ORIGINAL: RLA 2. Is there also a plan to launch non-government satellites, and that if you doing a launch successful of them, that you earns also some funds from non-government parts?

Yes, we're planning to add something like what you described starting on part 2.

quote:

ORIGINAL: RLA 3. How the basics of the game start (Meaning 1950-1955 era)? With building up from short-distance rockets to ICBM to orbital launcher?

The game starts in 1955, a few years after the first successful supersonic flight. You'll be able to open a "Scientific research satellites" program (for the uncrewed branch of the tech tree) and the "Space planes" program (for the crewed branch of the tree).

quote:

ORIGINAL: RLA 4. Become there only American rockets / probes / manned spacecrafts in it, or become it a balanced mix of all big space agency's in one about that?

SPM features lots of programs and missions from the most important space agencies in the world. Most missions are American (NASA), but there's a healthy dose of soviet probes as well (especially for Venus), along with misions from ESA and JAXA.

quote:

ORIGINAL: RLA 5. Maybe a bit off-the-box question, but if the manned mars mission comes in the later stage, then become it a return trip, or a one-way trip?

It's a return trip. One of the available options will be the Mars Cycler concept envisioned by Dr. Aldrin, which indeed allows the crew to get back to Earth.

EleSigma -> RE: hehe (2/24/2013 8:30:10 PM)

Will there be a Soviet counter to the X-15 space plane? Like a concept design such as the VKA-23 Design 1?

Nacho84 -> RE: hehe (2/25/2013 1:51:09 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: EleSigma

Will there be a Soviet counter to the X-15 space plane? Like a concept design such as the VKA-23 Design 1?

No, the only space plane featured in the game -apart from the Space Shuttle- is the X-15.

EleSigma -> RE: hehe (2/28/2013 12:36:59 AM)

Is there any plans to add more craft with later updates? I really want to try and win the game using mostly Russian made craft like have a LK-700 landing, then launch the Mir and use the Buran to supply it. ESA Hermes would be nice too. :)

jcjordan -> RE: hehe (2/28/2013 12:49:26 AM)

For Pt1 will there be a further breakdown of the different types of equipment available unlike the general type variety in BARIS ie there were 2 kinds of Saturn rockets the I & the V with the I not being the "to the moon" variety whereas the V was

RLA -> RE: hehe (3/1/2013 6:24:46 PM)

I got again some questions, but this time not much:

1. What become early, solid rocket parts or liquid rocket parts? And can you early launch a satellite orbital with solid rocket tech or with liquid rocket tech?

2. What for type of unmanned moon missions become available? Only a fly-by and a landing, like BARIS. Or also Orbital, rover and sample-return?

quote:

Is there any plans to add more craft with later updates? I really want to try and win the game using mostly Russian made craft like have a LK-700 landing, then launch the Mir and use the Buran to supply it.

Well, So far I read there comes no Buran or other russian / europe spaceplanes in it. But I think there add sure more stuff later in the game [:)]

Nacho84 -> RE: hehe (3/1/2013 11:50:16 PM)

Hello all! As usual, please accept my apologies for taking a couple of days to get back to you.

quote:

ORIGINAL: EleSigma

Is there any plans to add more craft with later updates? I really want to try and win the game using mostly Russian made craft like have a LK-700 landing, then launch the Mir and use the Buran to supply it. ESA Hermes would be nice too. :)

Yes, we'll certainly consider adding even more craft if enough players request them in the forum [:)]

quote:

ORIGINAL: jcjordan

For Pt1 will there be a further breakdown of the different types of equipment available unlike the general type variety in BARIS ie there were 2 kinds of Saturn rockets the I & the V with the I not being the "to the moon" variety whereas the V was

SPM approaches the missions in a different way than BARIS does. In BARIS, you choose a type of mission and then decide which hardware to use, whereas in SPM we have the following hierarchy:

The hardware used for the mission configurations (and thus for the levels which are above in the hierarchy) is fixed. Nonetheless, the great amount of programs available ensure that you have plenty of options to choose from.

Nacho84 -> RE: hehe (3/2/2013 12:00:20 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: RLA

I got again some questions, but this time not much:

1. What become early, solid rocket parts or liquid rocket parts? And can you early launch a satellite orbital with solid rocket tech or with liquid rocket tech?

The first rocket available is the Jupiter-C. The components used in the mission configurations is fixed, so you won't be able to choose a different one. We made this decision early on in order to keep the renders used to depict the progress of the mission consistent.

quote:

ORIGINAL: RLA 2. What for type of unmanned moon missions become available? Only a fly-by and a landing, like BARIS. Or also Orbital, rover and sample-return?

For the Moon missions (i.e., the "Lunar probes" program category) you will be able to choose from lunar flybys, impactors (based on the Ranger program), orbiter, landers (based on the Surveyor program) and sample returns (based on the Luna 15 soviet probe). Part 2 of the game will also feature an "Advanced lunar probes" program category, which features more contemporary missions such as LCROSS, LRO and even some which will be launched soon, such as LADEE

quote:

ORIGINAL: RLA

quote:

Is there any plans to add more craft with later updates? I really want to try and win the game using mostly Russian made craft like have a LK-700 landing, then launch the Mir and use the Buran to supply it.

Well, So far I read there comes no Buran or other russian / europe spaceplanes in it. But I think there add sure more stuff later in the game [:)]

Indeed, if enough players request them, we will consider adding more missions [:)]

ORIGINAL: Nacho84 Just kidding, here's the mechanism we use: when a new game is created, we generate a unique random seed for it. We then keep that seed as part of the save information along with a counter that indicates how many times the pseudo-ramdom number generator (PRNG) has been invoked. When a saved game gets loaded, we initialize the PRNG with the seed and invoke it "counter" times in order to take it to the same state it was when the game was saved. That way, we ensure you'll always get the same outcome every time, irrespective of how many times you attempt to reload the game.

Well, it is not very ideal solution as it it will not be lose rocket every time despite you having 97% on it. I think that some variety during (re)load should be allowed. And just dont make RNG to much random - so lauchich sucesfull mision with average 30% safety will be very unlikey to suceed even after 50 loads, then you will have realy big chance of suces with average 95% safety. (even without reload).

Nacho84 -> RE: hehe (7/6/2013 6:08:40 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: czert2

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nacho84 Just kidding, here's the mechanism we use: when a new game is created, we generate a unique random seed for it. We then keep that seed as part of the save information along with a counter that indicates how many times the pseudo-ramdom number generator (PRNG) has been invoked. When a saved game gets loaded, we initialize the PRNG with the seed and invoke it "counter" times in order to take it to the same state it was when the game was saved. That way, we ensure you'll always get the same outcome every time, irrespective of how many times you attempt to reload the game.

Well, it is not very ideal solution as it it will not be lose rocket every time despite you having 97% on it. I think that some variety during (re)load should be allowed. And just dont make RNG to much random - so lauchich sucesfull mision with average 30% safety will be very unlikey to suceed even after 50 loads, then you will have realy big chance of suces with average 95% safety. (even without reload).

We can certainly introduce something like you suggest during the beta testing process and see how it pans out. At the moment, the system forbids the player from cheating by reloading the game and that's really what we wanted to achieve. That being said, maybe there can be room for two reloading modes? Maybe we can rename the existing solution to "Ironman Mode" and introduce the one you suggest as a separate mode? We'll see during the beta.